Kentucky basketball sweeps shorthanded Florida Gators, adding to its NCAA Tournament resume

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The stars appeared to align for the Kentucky's men's basketball team heading into Wednesday's game at Florida.

The Wildcats came off a week in which they notched a pair of key wins — on the road versus Mississippi State, at home against No. 10 Tennessee. Then take the Gators: not only had they dropped four of their last five games prior to Wednesday, but their best player, center Colin Castleton, wasn't available after suffering a season-ending hand injury last week.

And after nearly 12 minutes, up 30-15, UK was trending to an easy win. Then UF scored 22 of the final 28 points of the half to take a 37-36 lead into the break.

In the second half, the Wildcats did just enough to escape the O’Connell Center with an 82-74 victory, their third in as many games. It also was their third Quad 1 win — the games most crucial for a team’s NCAA Tournament resume — in a row. Just as importantly, Kentucky (19-9, 10-5 SEC) avoided a costly loss that might have put it right back on the NCAA Tournament bubble, where it sat at the outset of last week.

Latest NCAA Tournament projections:Here's what the experts are thinking

With Castleton, a rangy 7-footer, sitting on the bench in sweats, Oscar Tshiebwe had his way with the Gators' defense, scoring a game-high 25 points on 12-of-13 shooting.

It was a far cry from his first tussle with the Gators (14-14, 7-8) this season, when Castleton shut down the reigning unanimous player of the year. Though UK pulled out a 72-67 win that day at Rupp Arena, it wasn't because of Tshiebwe, who scored just four points and went 2 for 14 from the field. 

Wednesday, he made his first seven shots before missing on an errant jumper as the clock ticked under two minutes in the first half.

Best in the U.S.?Kentucky signees DJ Wagner, Justin Edwards named Naismith player of the year finalists

UK seniors Jacob Toppin and Antonio Reeves scored 19 and 16, respectively. Freshman forward Chris Livingston had 10, which included a key put-back in the waning seconds.

Kentucky finished with a 53.2% shooting percentage (33 for 62).

Florida nearly matched UK in that department, connecting on 50% (26 of 52) of its attempts.

The difference: The Wildcats held a decisive edge on the boards (40-21), which led to a 15-0 advantage for the visitors in second-chance points.

Kentucky football:Transfer QB Devin Leary is going to 'light it up' with Wildcats

Guard Riley Kugel paced the hosts, with 24 points in an efficient manner: 7 of 12 from the field (4 for 6 on 3s) and 6 of 7 at the free-throw line. Kowacie Reeves (16 points) was the only other Gator to log a double-figure outing Wednesday.

Kentucky returns to Lexington for the first of a two-game home stand starting Saturday, hosting Auburn at 4 p.m. at Rupp Arena. The game will air nationally on CBS.

This story will be updated.

Reach Kentucky men’s basketball and football reporter Ryan Black at rblack@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter at @RyanABlack.